apache/beam · error · IllegalArgumentException

Unexpected type_info: +protoFieldType.getTypeInfoCase()

Error message

Unexpected type_info: +protoFieldType.getTypeInfoCase()

What it means

When converting a proto FieldType back into a Beam schema FieldType, the code switches over the proto's type_info oneof case. If the case is neither LOGICAL_TYPE, ATOMIC_TYPE, ARRAY_TYPE, ITERABLE_TYPE, MAP_TYPE, nor ROW_TYPE, the default branch throws this IllegalArgumentException because the wire data contains a type_info variant this Beam version does not understand.

Source

Thrown at sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/schemas/SchemaTranslation.java:508

            LOG.debug("Constructing non-standard logical type {} as UnknownLogicalType", urn);
          }
        }
        // assemble an UnknownLogicalType
        @Nullable FieldType argumentType = null;
        @Nullable Object argumentValue = null;
        if (logicalType.hasArgumentType()) {
          argumentType = fieldTypeFromProto(logicalType.getArgumentType());
          argumentValue = fieldValueFromProto(argumentType, logicalType.getArgument());
        }
        return FieldType.logicalType(
            new UnknownLogicalType(
                urn,
                logicalType.getPayload().toByteArray(),
                argumentType,
                argumentValue,
                fieldTypeFromProto(logicalType.getRepresentation())));
      default:
        throw new IllegalArgumentException(
            "Unexpected type_info: " + protoFieldType.getTypeInfoCase());
    }
  }

  private static void overrideEncodingPositions(Schema schema) {
    @javax.annotation.Nullable UUID uuid = schema.getUUID();
    if (schema.isEncodingPositionsOverridden() && uuid != null) {
      RowCoder.overrideEncodingPositions(uuid, schema.getEncodingPositions());
    }
    schema.getFields().stream()
        .map(Schema.Field::getType)
        .forEach(SchemaTranslation::overrideEncodingPositions);
  }

  private static void overrideEncodingPositions(Schema.FieldType fieldType) {
    switch (fieldType.getTypeName()) {
      case ROW:
        overrideEncodingPositions(

View on GitHub (pinned to 12126d8942)

Solutions

1. Align Beam SDK versions so the reader is at least as new as the writer that produced the proto.
2. Inspect getTypeInfoCase() in a debugger/logs to see the unexpected case; check the schema proto for a newly added variant.
3. Re-serialize the data with the older Beam version if downgrade is required.
4. Regenerate/redeploy from a build that includes the schema-proto version containing that type_info case.

Example fix

// before
 Beam 2.54 reader decoding schema written by Beam 2.60 with a new type_info case
// after
 upgrade reader dependency: org.apache.beam:beam-sdks-java-core to >= writer version

if (protoFieldType.getTypeInfoCase() == SchemaApi.FieldType.TypeInfoCase.TYPEINFO_NOT_SET || protoFieldType.getTypeInfoCase().name().equals("UNRECOGNIZED")) { throw new IllegalStateException("unknown type_info case; reader Beam version too old for this data"); }

try { decodeSchema(bytes); } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) { if (e.getMessage().startsWith("Unexpected type_info:")) { /* upgrade SDK or re-serialize */ } else { throw e; } }

When it happens

Trigger: fieldTypeFromProtoWithoutNullable receives a SchemaApi.FieldType whose getTypeInfoCase() is UNRECOGNIZED or from a newer Beam proto (added enum case) while the runtime Beam version is older — i.e. schema written by a newer Beam, read by an older Beam.

Common situations: Version skew: pipeline serialized with a newer Beam SDK/schema proto, deserialized with an older SDK; corrupted or hand-crafted proto FieldValue messages; a case added upstream that the local build predates.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• Unknown ValueKind number: {}
• Could not decode bytes as message
• Encountered unknown AtomicType: +protoFieldType.getAtomicTyp
• Unable to infer data schema from configuration proto.
• Could not parse Pub/Sub message

AI-assisted analysis of apache/beam@12126d8942 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fc2ce6d03d68cd3e. Report an issue: GitHub.